Photogenia

Abstract to the book "Photogenia" Delluc L.: Louis Delluc is a famous critic, successful writer, great director and father of cinema theory. "Photogenia" is his main book, published in 1920 and became the starting point for the history of film studies. In this book, evil and funny, he laid the foundations of the "photogenic concept", which was destined to become one of the most influential and fruitful film theories. Without inventing special terms, without introducing axioms and without deriving formulas, the author posed here questions that have since become key for any professional thought about cinema: about the integrity of the image, about the expressiveness of the actor, about the rhythm of editing, about the stylizing function of light. Delluc takes apart the process of creating and perceiving cinema into its various components and says things that seem absolutely revolutionary for such an early period in the development of cinema - and at the same time as if they are self-evident. What is the difference between artificial lighting and natural light? What role do words play in silent cinema? Could Sarah Bernhardt shine on screen as she did on stage? What sets Sesshu Hayakawa apart from her contemporaries? What would an ideal film studio look like? And what does bullfighting have to do with it? In 1924, the year of Delluc's death, Photogenia was translated into Russian and, thanks to this, won the love and respect (if not to say admiration) of Russian film scholars and film lovers. Exactly one hundred years later, we present a new, more complete or even more accurate translation, supplied with a large number of illustrations, as well as an extensive scholarly commentary and a preface by Alexei Gusev. Read more…